SRSeedBurners

GreycieMae gets the same treatment around here. She also gets the nose in the fluffly wing pits, but I'll do a snuffle while I'm in there and she now does the snuffle anticipating me to do it. It's cute.

How old is Kilaya now? I'm not much for re-homing for but in this case, if he's young enough it would be like he's moving on to his adult flock. Not much trauma if at all provided you can find a really good family for him (i.e. make sure he likes whomever you will place him with). Then I would stick with the wife's advice - no more parrots. From what I've read of your first bird, you had a 1-in-million bird and there aren't many that will live up to that standard. I went on an 8 month quest to replace a Jardines we lost because we were sick to death the way we lost her. Her 'replacement' of course is nothing like her although he shares traits that are particular to all Jardines. However he's turned into the orneriest bitey little turd if he doesn't get his way. Didn't expect that but we love him, he has other good qualities which we never saw in our other Jardines.

Smart birdy Escher. I guess I missed the story on his nails getting pulled out? Did they regrow?

It would be hard not to go after that fluffy.

I was kind of shocked how different they can be. GreycieMae is nothing like Odie, my first Grey. They share a grey color and red tail, other than that their personalities are like night and day.

I seriously don't know how everyone deals with more than two birds. We added a third and that is over our limit (looking back on it). Our first hogs so much of our time there's no way another bird could pick me and I get to spend time with it. That's probably what Bongo is dealing with. Good luck with him. He's a Grey right?

Wow, Miss Marco's a a pin up girl!!!

Timnehs are smaller, less prominent maroon colored tail, bone colored beak. Pet qualities are up for debate. Some say the Timnehs are less neurotic/nervous (neurotic is probably wrong word - calmer), start talking a little earlier. That's all I can think of.

Wait...I thought you were moving into the big aviary out yonder? I was hoping to ask if we could move in. That outdoor flight aviary puts our little costco aviary to shame. Speaking of kitchen supervisors, we have three of those. If there's any rustling going on in the kitchen, you can bet there will be three airborne inbounds to monitor the situation. I've been known to crawl into a cabinet to eat a snack in peace.

I wouldn't be afraid to post photos of the lil plucker. I love seeing Greys plucked or not.

Believe me, if my wife hears that offer, she WILL take you up on it. I used to live in Oceanside for a while, love it there.

Wow - 9, that's crazy. I barely get enough time to spend with my Caique because GreycieMae loves to hog my time. I have a second Costco carport frame sitting in my garage. Wife wants me to put it together and join them. The first one required A LOT of trying to figure out how to do this and that. Now that I've done one, the second ought to take about 1/3 the time. Your problem is now going to be the wire gauge you will have to deal with. I could have gotten away with 16 gauge wire, although we used 14 gauge. 14 gauge is nearly impossible for one person to handle. Now that you'll have a macaw, you may have to use 12 or even 10 gauge. I can't imagine that.

Not sure how you do it. How many birds will that make? Biggest bird I can handle is a Grey. Sounds like you'll need 2-3 of those aviarys. According to GreycieMae it's too crowded with her two roommates.

Happy birthday Kizzy! We have a haunted birthday coming up soon too.

My first Grey is a lifetime plucker. I told GreycieMae earlier today, when I saw a post about a female that plucks unless she gets to nest, if you start plucking be aware that you will get a whole new wardrobe of cute little birdy suits to wear. All I need is an excuse to start dressing her up.

And on this farm she had some Llamas... which require careful inspection... a keen eye to spot any troubles. and a couple of goats way back yonder...who seem to be more interested in the Sterling-Ranch kitty than the upcoming food treat A farmer must get up early to feed the chickens... Checking on the brooder...making sure we havn't lost any babies. It's tough work... Or maybe it's just a lot of screwing around...not sure...

Ours did the same. She would only roost on the lip of the food/water bowl when we had every other imaginable perch in her sleep cage. I finally removed the bowl to force her to choose another one. She chose the swinging perch of all things.... They are weird ones.

The way I got GreycieMae comfortable with me opening her wings (one at a time) is by cupping her in my hands, her head pointed towards my chest and pointing her red tail up and then giving her kisses on her back. That progressed to me putting my hands under her wings and finally I can lift her wing with my hand and put my face under her wing. It's sort of a game to her as I 'snort' and 'snuffle' while I'm doing it and she snorts and snuffles back to me. As long as she perceives it as me playing with her she'll let me do it. She'll even ask for a tickle tickle while I'm doing it sometimes.

Found some more pics of move in day on my phone that wifey took... GreycieMae supervising securing the top rail hose clamps Excellent supervision: GreycieMae is pretty excited about her new digs:

Recently discussed here.

The door is framed out in 3/4" x 4" x 8' WRC (western red cedar). I went thinner than standard 2x4 to try and shave weight. On both sides anchoring the door are 4"x4" WRC posts. They are mounted in concrete deck blocks which are just below ground. Along the ground are some pine 2x4s I had in storage for years waiting to find a use. The non-painted boards were there just to prevent an escapee. Those will dissappear when I get the dig-wire in place hopefully this week. All of it, base boards, gate, posts are stained in a semi-transparent all weather stain. Somehow it matches the color of the structure itself. The boards along the ground are in a channel of pea gravel to help keep them from rotting. Don't forget to see the GreycieMae in the middle pic

Opening Day has arrived!!! I still have a lot of stuff to do to get the aviary fully functional but the birdys got to investigate. GreycieMae took a few minutes to warm up but she gave me the feather wag that lets me know she approved. Toby can't stay out of the dang dirt - didn't expect that. Rio did what Rio always does - "where's the food?". Tools are all over the dang place. We still need to bury dig wire and secure the bottoms. Right now the aviary is not where I would leave them in it unattended but we're only a day or so away. Wife has lots of plans to beautify the place with flower pots along the outside. Rye grass is growing inside and soon the dirt will be nothing but bright green. A special note about the door. I struggled for a while trying to figure out what to do and I didn't want some damn boring door. My wife came up with the BRILLIANT idea to use these screen door decorative irons we've had stored away for nearly 15 years. These door grates (for lack of a better name) were attached to the house that my maternal Granddad was born in, my mom was born in, and I lived in for a while. This house, we always called it "the old house" was well over 100 years old and sat on my mother's family homestead which I grew up on. This homestead was one of those homesteads that settlers went westward and staked their claim. My Grandmother had the homestead deed hanging on her wall that was signed by I can't remember what president. McKinley? Who knows. All I know is, my Granddad meant a hell of a lot to me and now I have these cool door irons on the aviary. 'B' was for Blancett, my mother's maiden name. Can't believe how good the door came out with the color (my wife's idea) and the silver hardware. I didn't even plan on it looking as good as it does. Pics don't seem to do it justice. Lots of work still to do to remove excess wire, bury dig wire, finish out the bottom boards but we're there now!

I told my wife: my job is to get it functionally complete. Her job is to get it look'in purty.

We're coming along. Planned to take a 4-day weekend and try and knock this sucker out. Nothing is as easy as it seems. And to top it off, I've been called back into work after only three days. This is the latest accomplishments: - wired all the sides. I really screwed this up. The bottom diameter around the aviary is wider than around the top as the legs are naturally splayed outwards. So trying to wrap all the way around (like they say to do at the link I'm following) DOES NOT WORK. This roll of wire was hella-expensive so I had to salvage what I had already done and not start over. I had to make it work. With a lot of cussing, swearing and GreycieMae telling me she loves me (one of her few phrases) we finally got it done. - I got the top corner triangles wired. Those required buying more wire. I found a 3ft - 1x2 16 gauge GBW wire that I used for that and the door when I get to it. - I had to re-dig 4 of the concrete pylons as they were off by several inches and this really played heck with getting the structure to stand true with the wire tied to it. Getting the structure to stand even and straight TOOK ALL DAMN DAY. That was a nightmare. I actually got depressed and wanted to quit that day. I ended up tying on with our truck and the car to winch it in different directions to watch what the wire was doing so I could figure out where the problem was. Most of it was in the corner where I started wiring and I found I had wired it incorrectly as the wire was trying to rise up onto the roof with the truck pulling it back to straight. So I ended up moving and shifting some wire and re-strapping it along with the moving some pylons and she straightened right up - WHEW! I really struggled with how to design the door but my wife came up with a brilliant idea. I'll hold off on that until I get it done as there is a good story behind it. We just started playing with the door posts by the time I called it quits for the weekend. My three feathered supervisors spent nearly the whole time out there supervising unless we were at the store buying stuff. They'll be glad to move in I'm sure.

Nothing like that sinking feeling when you notice a bird is sick.